198 years ago Emily Brontë was born in Thornton. Hers tends to be the thinnest biographies on Brontë bookshelves, and yet there's something intriguing about her literary output that sends people looking for biographies of her in hopes that they can help explain how a provincial - albeit highly learned, despite what Charlotte would have the world believe - young woman could have written such words. (And we are pretty sure that this 'mystery' is a two way street. Emily may have scorned the public, but we are quite confident that she would have been quite amazed at what Wuthering Heights particularly has achived in terms of readership, influences, literary status, etc.).

And yet that is the magic and mightiness of the pen. If ever anyone showed that to the world, that was undoubtedly 'our Emily'. No explanations are really needed - a good book and good poetry are always self-explanatory.

Happy birthday!(Originally Published in 2010) The Brontë Parsonage Museum marks the birthday with a walk:

Emily's BirthdayCelebrate the birthday of the most enigmatic Brontë siblingJuly 30th 2016 02:00pm

Join us for a walk and talk up on Penistone Hill to commemorate the anniversary of Emily Brontë's birth on 30 July 1818.